The moment Nancy Wilson knew she wanted to be a rock star: “Like the lunar landing”
When it comes to all-time favourite musicians, Nancy Wilson usually mentions one name before the rest. “Obviously,” the guitarist once explained, discussing her love for one particular outfit and the ways they shaped her entire career. Like many, Wilson fell into the whirlwind of 1960s hype like everybody else, but in her view, it was anything but disappointment.
When Heart released their self-titled 1985 debut, Wilson’s reputation as one of the industry’s most talented guitar players was more than established. During a time when female talent wasn’t as celebrated, Wilson broke the mould with her intuitive guitar playing, providing a fresh spin on what it meant to play an instrument and be a skilled wordsmith.
In fact, her love for rock and all of its unabashed qualities is likely what drew her to some of her all-time favourites, including The Beatles and particularly John Lennon, whose guitar playing enabled her to discover musical passageways to spaces she never before deemed possible. Finding The Beatles was, in her mind, like experiencing an explosive epiphany.
Wilson remembers the moment in vivid detail. “The lightning bolt came out of the heavens and struck Ann and me the first time we saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show,” she told Ultimate Classic Rock, recalling the “hype” surrounding the band and the event, and likening the show to “the lunar landing”. Despite being only seven at the time, “that was the moment Ann and I heard the call to become rock musicians,” she said.
What drew her to them at the time wasn’t just their fascination as a band but the messages they conveyed. According to Wilson, everybody was in awe of how they were “pushing hard against the morality of the times”. Looking back, it’s easy to misunderstand what the guitarist means when she says this, but in her mind, the fact that The Beatles were wearing suits didn’t detract from their sensuality.
“The sexuality was bursting out of the seams,” she explained. But it wasn’t their appeal as sex icons that captivated Wilson or her sister: all they wanted to do was achieve the same feat. “Ann always got to be Paul, and I was mostly George or John,” Wilson mused. Her love for the Liverpudlian outfit remained intact throughout their entire career, and she became an avid student even during their most experimental moments.
Discussing Revolver, for example, Wilson once said: “The first time I dropped the needle on Revolver, it was like being let in through a secret backstage door where the recording session was going on.” For the guitarist, The Beatles weren’t just a talented band; they were a force that altered the entire musical landscape, and if they could replicate merely an ounce of that impact, they had made it.
